Important Events From This day in History April 1

 

1918 Great Britain - Royal Air force is Founded

1918 : The Royal Air force is founded in England, this is truly an amazing piece of History as the first flight was only made 8 years before by Wilbur and Wright and for countries around the World to set up a separate arms of the Forces shows how important politicians believed the aircraft would become as a part of the military.

The aircraft in use in 1918 when the RAF started included the Sopwith Pup, Bristol F2B Fighters, Sopwith Camels and Royal Aircraft Factory SE5's

1933 Germany - Persecution of Jews

1933 : Nazi Germany begins the persecution of German Jews by declaring a boycott of Jewish owned businesses

, 1945 U.S.A. - US Forces Land on Okinawa

1945 : The United States Tenth Army commanded by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. land on Okinawa, main island of the Ryukyus, 362 miles from the Japanese home islands.

The Occupation of Island of Okinawa was considered crucial if there is to be an invasion of the Japanese mainland and during the campaign the U.S. Navy sustained greater casualties in this operation than in any other battle of the war and it was not until on about June 21st , ( 11 weeks ) that the main battles for the Island ended. ( In the event the Nuclear Bombs changed military strategy. )

, 1946 U.S.A. - Hawaii Earthquake and Tsunami

1946 : A major undersea earthquake measuring 7.4 magnitude in the north pacific ocean caused a Tsunami that by the time it reached Hawaii some 2,400 miles away and travelling at 500 miles per hour, only 4 1/2 hours after the quake waves reaching 60ft in height hit coastal areas of Hawaii causing the deaths of 150 + . This Tsunami prompted the setting up of the U.S. to establish the Seismic SeaWave Warning System to help in evacuation but any similar occurrence today would be even more devastating as can be shown with the damage and loss of life caused by Hurricane Katrina where the warning was greater than 6 hours.

, 1970 U.S.A. - AMC Gremlin

The AMC group introduced one of the first sub compact cars way back in 1970 before many realized gas prices would be a critical factor in future car buying, the car was called the Gremlin and cost $1879. Car imports were just starting to have an impact on the US market including the Volkswagen Beetle and the new generation of Japanese imports like the Datsun.

, 1970 U.S.A. - Cigarette Advertising Banned

1970 : President Nixon signed into law the banning of cigarette advertising on television and radio.

1983 UK - CND Peace Demonstrators

1983 : Tens of thousands of CND peace demonstrators form a human chain stretching 14 miles across Southern England from the American airbase at Greenham Common, via the Aldermaston nuclear research centre and ending at the ordnance factory in Burghfield.

1990 UK - Strangeways Prison

1990 : A thousand prisoners run amok in Strangeways Prison in Manchester in a violent riot setting fire to the chapel and gymnasium, and a number of prison cells, the inmates are protesting the primitive conditions and severe overcrowding.

The riot at Strangeways lasted 25 days the longest in British penal history.

, 1991 U.S.A. - Riverboat Gambling

1991 : Iowa becomes one of the first states to allow riverboat gambling .

, 1999 Europe - The Euro

1999 : Eleven countries in the European Union adopted the Euro as a common currency as the dream of monetary union became reality.

, 1999 U.S.A. - Melissa" e-mail virus

1999 : David Smith is arrested and charged with originating the "Melissa" e-mail virus, which infected more than 1 million computers worldwide and caused more than $80 million in damage.

Melissa is classified as a computer worm and shut down Internet mail systems that got clogged with infected e-mails propagating from the worm. Melissa was spread via the word processors Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000 through the use of an inbuilt macro in the template and could mass-mail itself from e-mail client Microsoft Outlook 97 or Outlook 98.

, 1999 Great Britain - Minimum Wages

1999 : Britain introduces the first ever legally binding minimum rate of pay. From This Day all adults must be paid at least £3.60 an hour and workers under the age of 22 must get no less than £3 an hour.

I have created a small chart below giving an idea of some of the yearly earnings based ( equiv in US Dollars ) on minimum wage for an Adult Working Full Time in that country in 2007. If the figures depend on State of Province or by trade and profession we have taken the lowest figure paid.

Country Annual wage based on Minimum Wage In Equiv US Dollars

Algeria 3,799

Angola 973

Argentina 9,266

Australia 18,382

Belarus 1,987

Belgium 17,879

Brazil 3,130

Burundi 11

Canada 10,196

Chad 1,638

China No Minimum Wage Exists

Costa Rica 4,505

Czech Republic 7,168

Dominican Republic 2,305

El Salvador 1,747

Ethiopia 1,656

France 16,668

Haiti 1,497

Hungary 6,504

India No Minimum Wage Exists

Indonesia 1,369

Ireland 18,842

Jamaica 2,544

Japan 10,599

Kazakhstan 1,619

Kenya 1,785

Libya 1,143

Luxembourg 21,070

Malawi 594

Mexico 1,557

Netherlands 17,015

New Zealand 15,822

Nigeria 831

Poland 5,918

Portugal 7,258

Russia 871

Slovakia 5,400

South Africa 3,794

Switzerland 15,466

Uganda 206

United Kingdom 22,368

United States 12,168

Many Many Countries including China and India who are listed above do not have minimum wages and the countries range from very westernized countries like Germany, Finland and Norway through to some of the poorest countries in the World like Bangladesh, North Korea and Rwanda.

The figures do not mean workers will only earn that per year but are the minimum set if there is a minimum.

For much more detail and including many countries not listed here check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country